Boat Ramp Parking Fee Idea Resurfaces in New Port Richey

In February, the New Port Richey City Council torpedoed a proposal to charge a fee to park at the Sims Park Boat Ramp, on the west bank of the Pithlachascotee River.

On Tuesday, the notion resurfaced.

Confronted with the task of plugging a projected $800,000-deficit in the proposed fiscal year 2012, which takes effect Oct. 1, the council decided it should take another look at the fees.

In a discusion of the $16.026 million general fund budget, the took center stage. The city's general fund will need to subsidize $776,000 of the center's operating costs in the upcoming fiscal year. In addition, paymemts need to continue to be made on a $14 million debt service on the center.

A week ago, the city council decided to

Mayor Bob Consalvo, a former Parks and Recreation director, pointed out that center’s cost recovery was good when it marketed in the newspaper.

In fiscal year 2011, the parks and recreation department budgeted $5,000 for marketing. Another $10,000 is budgeted for a marketing study for the recreation and aquatic center.

The fiscal year 2012 budget proposes allocating $5,000 for recreation department marketing.

In the 2008 fiscal year, the center had $14,269 for marketing. This paid for a monthly advertisement in the St. Petersburg Times.

Councilwoman brought up the idea of using the boat ramp parking fees discussed earlier this year to generate advertising money.

“I think it’s worth examining,” she said.

Councilman agreed that the idea was worth another look.

The idea of charging for parking at the Sims Park Boat Ramp, right next to the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce and across the Cotee River from the park itself, last surfaced before the council February 1.

The council sunk the idea. 

Smith’s February proposal called for charging for the use of approximately 20 boat trailer parking spaces and 12 single-unit spaces at the site.

Parking permits would cost $5 a day in the plan and $50 for an annual pass. It would cost $4,507 to set up the system, including “Iron Ranger” stations for collecting funds and lane restriping. The plan was projected to generate $5,000 annually.

Langford asked Smith on Tuesday about whether the proposal was to charge a fee to launch from the ramp, as well.

Smith said such a charge would require a person on-site to collect the fees. A difficult requirement. The department has frozen one unfilled position. But it would bring in more money, she said.

Smith said she would dust off her old proposal and bring it back to the council. The council did not cite a specific fee amount or make any other decision about the idea Tuesday night.

Deputy Mayor suggested looking at adding a bait trailer at the lot. He said later in an interview that he had opposed the fees in February because they did not outweigh the cost. Add value, like a bait trailer or refreshment sales, he said.

“Then it might make some sense.”

New Port Richey resident Sherry Stamback Turansky expressed her opinion on the idea on our Facebook fan page.

“I think our blessed taxes pay for the park/boat ramp use,” she wrote. “I suspect charging for parking in that lot will encourage an empty lot and parking elsewhere.”

However, she wanted to know how much would be charged.

"A dollar? I'd pay a dollar, under agitation," she wrote, "but still do it
if that's where I wanted to park for the sake of my boating party."

Other ideas of generating money for the general fund budget touched on:

• The city’s recently enacted, and expanding, red light camera program, which a preliminary estimate expects to bring $1.2 million to the budget. Council members were uncertain it would generate the money projected. They discussed a Broward County court ruling last week that upheld the cameras' constitutionality. In June, a different Broward judge ruled that officers can't ticket people for running red lights because the charge to the driver is higher than the red light citation charge. Both rulings only affect their court districts.
• Purchasing marketing outside of print media.
• Renting out the Recreation and Aquatic Center’s concession stand. It's now on its third bid, and a local deli has expressed interest.
• Leasing out as many as eight pieces of city property for cell towers, an idea that hit a snag when the city learned sites might have restrictions on how they can be used, especially if they were financed with bonds. The city attorney is now reviewing the matter.